Arrow: The Demon Awakens
by ArlyssTolero
Summary: The salvation of Zambesi is not without consequences. With no Vixen in Detroit, Oliver Queen has no one to turn to for magical assistance and Damien Darhk kills his only son, awakening the remnants of Warith al Ghul deep within Oliver.


_**Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, or The Flash. **_

_**A/N: This story was written as a culmination of things some time back when I was operating an alternate profile, TheSerpent86. The lack of consequences for Zambesi being saved, the sheer disgust I was feeling at the fact Season 7's back half wasn't nearly as interesting as the first eight episodes, the essential confirmation that the character I'd invested seven years of my life into would either die or end up cursed to have Felicity Smoak as his soulmate, and a general feeling of wanting to see it all burn. Still kind of feel that way on occasion and I'm sure I'm not the only one. **_

_**Warning: This story features an Evil Oliver, many Major Character Deaths, and Implied Date Rape. **_

Arrow:

The Demon Awakens

by

ArlyssTolero

Oliver Queen stood over a freshly filled grave, one hand trembling as it curled into a fist, nails digging into his palm. His expression was blank as the rain poured down on him, and his eyes dry. Oliver was not a man who grieved in a healthy manner; he buried his feelings deep, found the source of his grief, and then he shared his feelings. Right now, though, he was having a moment alone at the grave of his child, a child he had barely begun to get to know. Now, William was dead; Oliver had done everything Darhk asked to ensure his son's safety, and his reward was to hold his son's body, one hand trying to stem the flow of blood from William's slit throat, as Darhk stood over them and gloatingly said, "Bad guy, remember?" when asked why he would break his word.

Samantha had refused to let Oliver attend the funeral, and he had not argued. He had watched it from a distance and waited until everyone was gone until he came up to the grave. He looked down at the tombstone. _William Clayton_, it read. _An Innocent Soul_. His son _had_ been an innocent soul, an innocent brought into a private war, and thanks to Darhk, Oliver knew who it was. Oh, Darhk would pay the price, but he was not the only one. There were many who were responsible, Oliver included, and Oliver would make them _all_ pay before he paid the price himself.

The crackle of electricity and a _whoosh_ of air announced a speedster's arrival. The cautious footsteps were enough for Oliver to know that it was the speedster he was most familiar with. "Leave, Barry," Oliver said, his voice rough. He hadn't spoken to anyone in days, and he wasn't in the mood to hear Barry's sympathetic words.

"Oliver, man, I'm sorry," Barry said quietly. "Everyone's worried. We just…" Barry trailed off as Oliver turned to glare at him. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Leave," Oliver bit out. Barry closed his eyes, nodding, and turned, disappearing in a flash of golden-orange lightning. Oliver turned back to his son's grave and crouched in front of it. He placed a hand on the tombstone. "This will not go unpunished," Oliver said. "There will be no quarter given. There will be no hesitation, no mercy, no redemption for this. Every last person responsible for this, no matter how small a part they played, will _burn_ before I am done."

"You are finally ready to do what is necessary," a familiar voice said, and Oliver turned his head to see the image of Ra's al Ghul coalesce from thin air. "Do you remember what I said when I first met you?"

"How is this possible?" Oliver asked softly. "The Ring… the League… they're both gone."

"And that is where you are wrong," Ra's said quietly. "Nothing truly dies, Mr. Queen; it merely evolves. Answer the question."

"You said I was just a boy," Oliver replied. "I always wondered about that," he admitted.

"The Ring is merely a symbol, boy, a token used to fool those who would use the League for their own selfish desires," Ra's said quietly. "Men like Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk. When the power of the Demon's Head passes from the former Ra's to the next, the new Ra's is granted a vision of their potential successors. If the power is refused, it lingers until the Chosen Heir is ready to fulfill their destiny."

"And you think I'm ready?" Oliver asked.

"We both know you are," Ra's replied. "When you accept the power, than all who retained their vows will know the Demon's Head has returned and will rush to your service. You are their master and commander."

_They'll follow my orders?_

_Why wouldn't they? You will be Ra's al Ghul._

Oliver met Ra's' gaze. "I accept," he said. Ra's smiled and his form dissolved into an inky black, roiling energy that merged with Oliver, who closed his eyes and, in that moment, saw many things. The threats that were already in the world and those still to come; his potential agents and enemies; and finally, his potential successors. The power of the Demon's Head finished merging with its latest host, and Oliver's eyes closed for a moment before opening again, his blue irises glowing briefly with the suppressed power.

He was Oliver Queen no more. He had embraced his destiny; he was Ra's al Ghul.

_***DC***_

Ra's entered the League's stronghold within Star City. Not the measly warehouse where he had been brought before, but its true stronghold. Two priests assigned to its upkeep approached, observing him for but a moment before bowing respectfully. "Ra's," they intoned.

"Rise," Ra's said with a gesture. "How many chose to believe Nyssa was the true Ra's and dispersed?"

"Almost none, my lord," the older priest said as the three walked. "Some maintained service to Malcolm Merlyn following his defeat at your hands, knowing you would need agents within H.I.V.E., which Merlyn swore his loyalty to."

"They will be commended if that truly was their aim," Ra's replied. "If it was not, they will burn with the rest of this cesspit of a city." Ra's looked out at the city from the window of where the League stronghold was located, in downtown Star City. "I will not send agents to do my dirty work, though; this requires a personal touch." He turned to the priests. "Return to Nanda Parbat and revive the Lazarus Pit. It will be needed in the coming years." The priests bowed in acquiescence and Ra's turned back to observe the city, his eyes finding the skyscraper that dominated the Star City skyline since the demolishing of Merlyn Global years earlier: Palmer Technologies.

Ra's' lips curled into a smirk. He knew better than anyone that Felicity Smoak's method of running the business was destroying it; he had done much the same kind of 'running the business' when he had been C.E.O. of Queen Consolidated. Ray Palmer had been a fool to turn the power over to Felicity Smoak because she cared about the company's image more than he did. One day, the Board would have enough and remove Felicity from her position, as they had done with Ra's. Some would expect Ra's to go after Felicity because of her breaking up with him just after William died; but he wasn't going to, not right away. He had plans to make, after all, though as one whose portion of the blame for William's death was on the lesser end of the scale, Felicity would be among the first to die when Ra's struck. Those with the greatest portion would be saved for last.

Ra's turned away from the view and went to a supply closet; not one of the cleaning variety, but one holding notebooks like those Tempest had used. No doubt this was where Merlyn had gotten them in the first place. Retrieving one along with a pen, Ra's sat at a desk, and began to write out a List, those he held responsible for the death of his son, no matter how small the part they played. This List would form the foundation of his new Undertaking.

Star City, and every one of its defenders who rose up to stop him, would _burn_.

_***DC***_

It had been two weeks since William Clayton was murdered by Damien Darhk. Over one week since William was laid to rest and since anyone had seen any sign of Oliver Queen. He had learned from the last time he vanished (after his mother had been killed) and found a way to scramble his image so that it couldn't be recognized, even by the programs and satellites A.R.G.U.S. operated. Despite their break-up, Felicity Smoak was worried about her ex-fiancé, and so was everyone else who cared about him. Barry had popped in at least once a day to see if there was any news; John and Laurel were both constantly patrolling to see if Oliver had gone to ground in the Glades; and Thea was trying every contact she knew of Oliver's, past and present, to see if he had left Star City altogether. There had been no sign of Oliver or how he was dealing with things, and everyone who knew Oliver knew that the longer he stewed, the worse it could be.

It was worse than they knew. Ra's al Ghul waited in the dark apartment for his first target to return home, dressed in a finely cut suit with a new 'Ring of the Demon' resting comfortably upon his finger. He had had the priests design it himself; it would allow him to counteract Darhk's magic when they ran into each other and allow him to focus the control he had over those sworn to the League's service more directly. While one could be released from their service, their oaths bound them to the power of the Demon's head for life, and Ra's was going to enjoy focusing that power on two _very special_ people. But for now, he was going to see how long it would take his former allies to realize _he_ was the one they should be afraid of, not Damien Darhk.

The target entered the apartment wearily, closing the door without even taking notice that he had a visitor. "This is the second time you haven't kept an eye out," Ra's said calmly as Quentin Lance flicked the light switch, illuminating the room. Quentin jumped, grabbing his chest reflexively.

"You have _got_ to stop doing that, Oliver," Quentin gasped, massaging his chest. "I'm liable to have a heart attack if you keep doing this."

"One can only hope," Ra's sneered, and Quentin faltered. "Tell me, Quentin… if Darhk killed Laurel or Sara, what would you do? If you had my training, my mentality… my penchant for ruthlessness?"

Quentin sagged into his armchair, studying the younger man. He knew something was up; he wasn't an idiot. He also knew that there was no way he was going to be leaving here if the younger man didn't want him to. Best to play the game that the grieving father wanted, for now. "I would give my guys a shoot to kill order," Quentin admitted. "It wouldn't be about the law or justice; it'd be about revenge. I'd want him to pay for what he did."

"In that, we agree, Quentin," Ra's said quietly. "But I will go much further than just Damien Darhk. There are many names on my List, many names that hold the blame for William's death." Ra's smiled coldly. "Every last one of them will wish I had died on the dam last year… including Laurel." Ra's left no time for Quentin to react, launching himself from where he had sat and across the space separating the two of them. His right hand found Quentin's throat and he tightened his grip. Quentin's hands grappled at his fingers, trying to loosen them.

"Laurel doesn't have anything to do with this," Quentin gasped out, his face turning red from the lack of air and blood flow, his heart beating wildly and without pattern. Red spots danced in front of his eyes.

"Oh, but she does," Ra's replied coldly, maintaining his grip. "Without her, I would have not given the scum in this city a chance at redemption. Without her, no criminal would enter this city for fear of being tortured and slaughtered like an animal." Ra's leaned down close. "And without her, you would never have given Damien Darhk the in that he needed to corrupt this city beyond redemption. She will die; they all will."

"I-I'm s-s-sorry," Quentin managed before he lost the ability draw any kind of breath, much less speak. Ra's pulled away from Quentin, watching with emotionless blue eyes as the light left the older man's eyes and the man's grappling hands slackened before falling to his side. Ra's tightened his grip just a little further, crushing the older man's trachea just in case, before letting the body drop.

"Apology accepted, Captain Lance," Ra's said before leaving the apartment. They would find no evidence of his DNA, for he had worn gloves, and he had scrambled the cameras in and around Quentin's building. There would be no evidence of who had killed Quentin Lance, and his former team would believe Darhk had sent an assassin to deal with the loose end.

This was only the beginning.

_***DC***_

It was after the funeral of Quentin Lance had come and gone that Ra's received two salient pieces of news. First was that Team Arrow, which now included Sara Lance and Ray Palmer who had finished their time-traveling mission, did indeed believe that Damien Darhk was behind the death of Quentin, as Ra's hoped would be the case. Sara and Ray returning was fortuitous, considering the second bit of news Ra's received; the Queen Mansion had been refurbished and was now serving as the mayoral residence. Most importantly, it was where Darhk's wife and child were currently living. Even refurbished, Ra's knew that building better than anyone except maybe Thea and the Lance sisters. As he stared the mansion from the darkened tree line, Ra's smiled, because with Thea, Laurel, and Sara on a warpath, Darhk would believe one of them had been responsible for what was about to happen.

Ra's took care of the guards on the perimeter quickly, quietly; his agents were keeping an eye on Darhk, who was working at a H.I.V.E. stronghold with Merlyn as his new toady. The power of the Demon's Head allowed him to know when and where his enemies were going to strike and what defenses Darhk might have added to the Mansion. It had amused Ra's to discover that Darhk had added no protections, merely supplemented the security detail with Ghosts dressed as bodyguards. Foolish, seeing as one of the side effects of the drug they fed the Ghosts kept the soldiers docile and incapable of independent thought. Such as making check-ins with security a common occurrence.

Ra's entered the mansion through an upper-story window, a katana strapped to his back and a tanto clutched between his teeth. Slipping into the room, Ra's found it was his own former bedroom, and it looked like Darhk had turned it into a storage space for his security forces. Ra's left the room, tanto now in hand, and stalked guard after guard, taking them down before returning to the family wing. He checked Thea's room, and smiled coldly as he saw Nora Darhk sleeping peacefully. Darhk would feel his pain soon enough and would believe Sara or Thea were responsible.

Ra's approached the young girl. _Believe me, I'm doing you a favor, _Ra's thought to himself as he tilted his head, staring at the girl, before bringing the blade down, putting a hand over the girl's mouth as he drove the blade through her ear and into her brain. Nora barely made a sound as her final breath passed between her lips. Ra's cleaned the blade on the girl's covers before retreating and facing the master bedroom. Now this… this he would take his time with, and he had the perfect weapon to use, one that would ensure the framing of Team Arrow for the murder of Darhk's family. With Team Arrow and Darhk focused on each other, he could deal with another matter the power of the Demon's Head had informed him of.

Ra's entered the master bedroom. Ruve Darhk was not asleep; she was sitting at the vanity, brushing her hair. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she whirled, her hand going for the cell phone nearby, only to stop and curl in on herself, her hands going to her ears and a scream retching from her throat as Oliver held up a modified sonic device, like those Sara had once used but modified, like the collar Cisco had made for Laurel; only this device was hand-held and could cripple or kill, where Laurel's and Sara's had always disoriented. Ra's released the trigger for a moment. Ruve was bleeding from the ears and nostrils, and as she met Ra's' gave shakily, he could see the veins in her eyes had popped, turning the whites of her eyes an inflamed red. "Y-You won't get away with this, Q-Queen," Ruve rasped out. "My h-h-husband will h-h-hunt you t-t-t-to the e-e-ends of the E-E-Earth."

"Not right away," Ra's whispered. "He'll believe the Lances are responsible for the murder of his family, just as they believe he is responsible for the murder of Quentin Lance." Ruve's eyes widened as Ra's raised the device again. "And my name isn't Queen, Madam Mayor. My _name_ is Ra's al Ghul, and I am the Master of the League of Shadows." Ra's activated the device again, and this time he didn't release the trigger until Ruve Darhk's brains were dribbling out of her ears, and her bones reduced to dust. Her body sloshed to the ground with an odd squelching noise, and Ra's departed.

_***DC***_

Ra's had known when he set out on his mission that the time might come when Team Arrow got desperate enough to call in Barry, especially when they learned the truth. So, he had had his agents keeping track of the goings-on in Central City. The last report Ra's had received as he prepared to depart Star City after killing Nora and Ruve Darhk was that the S.T.A.R. Labs team had succeeded in containing a metahuman from Earth-2 calling itself King Shark but were still struggling to deal with the loss of the man called Jay Garrick.

When Ra's arrived at the League's stronghold in Central City, he found one of the acolytes waiting for him. One of the changes Ra's had made to the League of Shadows (beyond the name itself) was that you had to earn the right to be called an assassin. The intelligence branch of the League, their 'Ravens', would not be required to earn the title of assassin (this would allow those like Sara had been to continue serving the League without becoming disillusioned), but if they wished to have a higher position they would need to earn the rank of assassin rather than acolyte. "Report," Ra's said briskly now.

"The Flash and his team are still working on automatic," the acolyte replied. "We have tracked the movements of every person of interest. The doppelganger of Harrison Wells and his daughter are in residence at S.T.A.R. Labs and remain there almost constantly. Dr. Caitlin Snow does not socialize with her companions outside of work, preferring to deal with her feelings by herself. The Wests all have windows of vulnerability. The Flash spends his days patrolling the city and actively avoids S.T.A.R. Labs. Henry Allen continues to stay at the cabin, and we have an asset that can take him out anytime. Cisco Ramon spends days at a time in his studio apartment unless he is absolutely needed."

"Good," Ra's replied. "Keep an eye on The Flash and his team and contact me with an update if anything changes. For now, though… I have a personal matter to attend to."

_***DC***_

Samantha Clayton groaned, blinking as she woke up and seeing the night sky above her. The last thing she remembered, she had been at her home, packing up William's room finally as she prepared to sell her house and move in with her parents for a time. Samantha reached up to touch the lump on the back of her head, only for her hand to impact a hard, smooth surface. Focusing her gaze, Samantha realized that the night sky she could see was edged by dark masses on every side of her. She was in a glass box, and it was resting several feet below ground level. "What is this!?" she shouted in terror. "What the hell's going on!?"

A figure appeared over the hole in which she was trapped, a work light illuminating the man's features. "Hello, Samantha," Oliver Queen said without emotion. "I'm glad you're awake. Much longer and I would've had to finish up here without us getting a chance to talk; and I really wanted you to understand what's happening. So, thank you, for recovering from the Tibetan Pit Viper venom so quickly." His lips quirked up into a ghost of a smile. "Guess there's a hint of a warrior in you."

"Oliver, what the hell is this?" Samantha demanded to know, banging her hands against the top of the box she was contained in. "Let me out, right now, and I might forget this happened!"

"We both know that isn't true," Oliver said. "And I'm afraid Oliver Queen died the day he was forced to watch his son buried from afar. He died, and I was born from the ashes. You may call me _Ra's._"

Samantha took a couple of calming breaths. She had gone to school and trained to become a psychologist, and she knew that in this situation, she needed to play into Oliver's delusion; clearly, he'd snapped from what happened to William and if anyone was going to be able to talk him down, it was her, and she couldn't do it in anger. "Alright, Ra's," she said, trying to calm her racing heart. "What is this? What are you doing?"

"It's very simple, Samantha," _Ra's_ said. "You kept my son from knowing me. You forced me to lie to him, to the people I cared about, and most importantly, you kept him from me for ten years. My mother is already paying for her sins in hell, I'm sure, but for you, I wanted something truly special, something that would let you know the pain I feel." Ra's crouched beside the grave, staring into Samantha's increasingly terrified features. "You may notice a spike of pain on your backside." She hadn't, but now she definitely was. "While you were rendered unconscious, I peeled the flesh away from your shoulder blade, carved a specific rune into it, and then sowed you back up as stage one of this."

"Oliver, you're sick," Samantha whispered. "You need help. Please. Let me out of here, and we can go back to Central City. I know people who are very good at healing minds."

"I don't need healing, Samantha," Ra's replied. "Aren't you curious about the rune?"

"Fine, what about the rune?" Samantha asked, trying to keep Oliver talking. Surely someone would come across them at some point.

"As I said, it is a very special rune, one I selected because of what it will do," Ra's replied.

"Which is?" Samantha asked, feeling around the edges of the box, trying to find a way to lift the top and escape.

"When you die, the rune will trap your spirit in your body," Ra's replied. "You see, our ancestors burned the bodies of their dead to ensure their spirits could not be trapped. In modern times, funerals are for the living, not the dead, and the dead are interred in 'hallowed ground', ground that traps their spirits within their bodies. I will be retrieving our son's body and giving him proper funerary rights." Ra's smiled coldly. "But you, Samantha, will be buried here and when you die, your soul will remain trapped here. You will never see William again. You will have no afterlife. No heaven, no hell; just _purgatory_. That is what will haunt your thoughts once I leave you buried here. And no one will find you, Samantha… I own the property."

"Oliver! _Oliver!_" Samantha screamed as he disappeared. A moment later, something fell onto the glass case; then it happened again, and again, and Samantha's terror transformed into pure, unadulterated panic as she realized it was _dirt_ that had just been thrown onto the glass box, no, the glass _coffin_ she was trapped in. He was doing it; Oliver was _burying_ her alive! "Oliver, stop it! I'm sorry! I'm _sorry!_ Please, let me out! Please, don't _do this!_" There was no answer as Samantha continued to scream and bang on her glass tomb, no answer but the soil being piled on her and blocking the night sky from her view.

Samantha Clayton would last only twenty-four hours, her screaming and sobbing giving way to gasps of air and muscles spasming as the lack of oxygen began to affect her mind and body. When she finally passed, she would discover that Oliver, no, Ra's had been telling the truth. She _was_ trapped in her own body, could feel it begin to decay over the weeks to come, and would be slowly driven mad as she realized a second truth of what Ra's had said.

No one ever found her body.

_***DC***_

With all the prep work having been done in the past two weeks, Ra's merely had to choose who he would remove as a possible threat. Last, he had heard from Star City, Darhk did indeed believe Thea or one of the Lance sisters (namely Sara, as Laurel's bloodthirstiness had always been tempered by her love of the law, a love that Sara did not share) had been behind the murders of his wife and daughter. Thea being a suspect had Malcolm Merlyn once more aligning with Team Arrow, much to their mutual disgust.

The first of Ra's' chosen targets in Central City to fall was Cisco Ramon. Ra's had a device strapped to his wrist as he entered Cisco's apartment building; with the right flick of his wrist, the device would eject a blade straight out from under his sleeve. Ra's raised his opposing wrist and knocked; he had caught a glimpse of himself in the reflective glass door coming into the building. His hair was much longer than before, as was his beard. He looked like he had been living rough, or not caring about his grooming, and that would help ensure Cisco's guard was down.

Cisco opened the door, a welcoming, if sad, smile on his face. "Oliver, man, it's good to see you," Cisco said, gesturing for Ra's to enter. Ra's did so. "I was sorry to hear about your kid," Cisco continued as he closed the door.

Ra's gave an absent nod. "So, the city's been quiet since you closed the portals?" he asked.

"How did you-?" Cisco began.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out why Barry couldn't help me with Darhk when he took my son?" Ra's asked scornfully. Cisco winced, realizing how stupid his half-finished question had been.

"Yeah, things have been quiet," Cisco said.

"Good," Ra's said before launching his attack. Cisco didn't even have time to react before the blade pierced his heart. Blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth as he stared into Oliver's eyes, betrayal and horror shining in his own. "I'm sorry, Cisco, I truly am," Ra's said quietly. "But I cannot let your vibes be used against me or my plans. But don't worry; you'll have plenty of company soon enough." Ra's twisted the blade, further shredding Cisco's ravaged heart, and pulled away as he saw the light leave the tech whiz's eyes. He tossed the body aside indifferently. "Goodbye, Mr. Ramon." To further confuse the police and Team Flash, Ra's had some of his agents arrive shortly after he left to ransack the place and make off with a few choice items, which would later show up at pawn shops.

_***DC***_

The next on Ra's' list was Detective Joe West. Seeing as the man had been a part of the Major Case Unit as well as being the head of the Anti-Metahuman Task Force, his being targeted would not be a surprise. Being a man who didn't like things to be 'complicated', Joe West had a very strict routine. He would grab a cup of decaf at Jitters, go to S.T.A.R. Labs and check on anything going on there, and then take a breather in a disused lounge with a balcony access. That would be Ra's' point of entry.

Ra's landed on the balcony in a crouch, entering the lounge and seeing Joe dozing lightly in an armchair. Ra's approached quietly, angling his body as he came up behind the sleeping detective. A moment later, he had Joe in a sleeper-hold. Joe awoke in a panic, hands scrabbling against Ra's' black-clad arm. "Don't struggle, Detective," Ra's said quietly, and Joe, recognizing the attacker's voice, began to struggle even more. "It'll all be over soon. And don't worry. Your son and daughter will soon join you in death." Joe gave a strangled cry of protest before falling silent. Ra's hoisted Joe into a fireman's carry and returned to the balcony.

"Goodbye, Joe," he said quietly and threw the man over the railing. He waited and watched as the man plummeted, smiling as he saw a dark red pattern blossom on the concrete below, much like a flower blossoms in the springtime. "Theatrical and overly-dramatic," Ra's mused. "The stereotype of every major criminal and metahuman in the city." He pulled a grappling hook gun from his belt and raised it upwards before firing and ascending to the helicopter waiting on the roof.

_***DC***_

Wally West had been the easiest to get rid of, by far. He dealt with his grief over Joe the same as he had the grief he felt regarding his mother: street races. Ensuring that the nitrous in his racer was mixed with an explosive compound had been relatively easy. Barry and Iris were driven closer together while Harrison Wells and his daughter became further ensconced at S.T.A.R. Labs. That left Caitlin Snow, dealing with her grief over the losses of her best friend, Cisco, and her father figure, Joe, alone and vulnerable. It was too delicious an opportunity to pass up for Ra's' more sadistic side.

Ra's arrived at Caitlin's apartment building with a bottle of red wine in the crook of his arm, his hair now styled slightly as it had been before the island and wearing his facial hair in a Van Dyke. Ra's had an apartment in this building himself (the penthouse, of course), and if not for the fact that he had to follow through on his plans with Caitlin, he would have been entertaining a very beautiful, intelligent woman up there before her scheduled demise. It was almost a pity; Caitlin Snow was a truly beautiful woman, and her keen mind would have been an extraordinary resource to the League. But unfortunately, Dr. Snow also suffered from that disease known as morality (a disease Ra's had thankfully cured himself of upon his son's murder). He would simply have to enjoy himself while he could.

When Caitlin opened the door, Ra's gave her a kind, understanding smile. "Hello, Caitlin," he said quietly.

"Oliver," she said in surprise. "What are you-"

"I've been lying low, but some of my contacts told me about the recent crime wave," Ra's said quietly. His agents had been causing chaos in this city to further confuse Barry and the C.C.P.D., ensure they didn't realize the deaths of Barry's team members were anything _but_ a horrible rash of crime. He'd even had the mayor killed by a sniper (it helped that the mayor was a corrupt piece of shit) to further sow discord and confusion. With Star City in a similar state of chaos, neither team was asking for the other's help. "I know Barry and Iris have each other, but I thought you might want a friendly ear."

"And a friendly glass of wine?" Caitlin asked in amusement, her doe brown eyes noting the wine speculatively. "That's a nice vintage," she said.

"My father's favorite," Ra's replied with a shrug.

"Well, seems Robert Queen had good taste," Caitlin said, stepping back and opening the door wider. "Might as well make sure it doesn't go to waste."

"Indeed not," Ra's replied. Inside Caitlin's apartment, the younger woman opened the bottle, allowing it to breathe, and then poured them each a glass. What Caitlin did not know was that the entire bottle had been spiked with Vitura, and unless you had imbibed the counteragent, as Ra's had, not even the strongest of minds could resist the drug's influence. It took only a single glass, drunk rather swiftly due to her grief, for Caitlin Snow to fall under its power. "Caitlin, my dear," Ra's said, and she looked at him, eyes unfocused. "I want you to write a note for me. Phrase it however you like. But I want you to write a note expressing a desire to end your own life because of what's happened. Can you do that for me, my dear?"

"Of course, Oliver," Caitlin replied. "I've been thinking about it, anyways. Barry has Iris; Harry and Jesse have each other… I don't have anyone, and every time I open my heart…"

"It's broken," Ra's finished. The woman nodded. "Go ahead, my dear. Write it out. Maybe it will help you deal with that unresolved grief." In the meantime, he needed to find some special items.

Once Caitlin had finished her note, Ra's got her to invite him to her bed. There, he made sure she serviced him in every way imaginable before he handed her the noose he had crafted from the woman's own nylons and told her to hang herself. Once she had expired, her porcelain features a deep purple and her body hanging limply from her ceiling fan, Ra's left Caitlin's apartment, taking the bottle of wine with him.

_***DC***_

Iris West tended to work late at Central City Picture News and was known to be quite adventurous, taking on stories other reporters wouldn't touch because of the risk. When her cell phone rang and she noticed it was from a blocked number, her curiosity was piqued, and she answered. "Hello?" she asked.

"**Iris West?**" a man's modulated voice asked in return.

"Yeah, that's me," Iris replied. "Who's this?"

"**The Green Arrow,**" the man replied. "**I believe your father often called me 'that crazy man'.**" Iris' lips twitched up into a sad smile, because that is exactly what her father had used when talking of Star City's vigilante, and it also confirmed this was, in fact, the Green Arrow talking to her. "**I have some information for you. H.I.V.E. may be intending to expand their operations. Warehouse D-4, by the wharf. I would tell The Flash, but I understand he's dealing with the loss of his team and this may end up being a dead end.**"

"I'll look into it," Iris said firmly. "Thanks."

"**Good luck, Miss West, and be careful,**" the Green Arrow replied. "**Barry can't lose anyone else.**" He hung up and left her stunned for a moment. Once that moment had passed, she resolved to talk to Barry about the Green Arrow knowing his identity once she confirmed if H.I.V.E. was expanding their operations to Central City. She knew from the communications they had received from the Star City team that the Green Arrow had vanished, and they had been struggling to keep H.I.V.E. at bay. It looked like the Green Arrow had been ferreting out the extent of H.I.V.E.'s operations, and Iris briefly wondered if he hadn't trusted his team.

Well, that was something to ask Barry about. along with the fact Green Arrow knew his identity, after she had discovered if H.I.V.E. was setting up a base here or if the information had been faulty. Iris took off, leaving her cell phone behind in her hurry to hopefully get a major scoop.

_***DC***_

Ra's al Ghul waited in the shadows of the warehouse, watching the bait as she stirred from unconsciousness. Iris West had been easy to trick; reporters loved the chance at a big scoop and Barry had mentioned, once or twice, that Iris took more risks than he liked. Ra's had counted on Iris' enthusiasm for her job to overshadow her caution, and it had paid off. She was now secured to a chair in the center of the warehouse, gagged, and Ra's had already taken a photo with his cell phone. He had just been waiting for Iris to wake up, because he wanted her awake for this. He sent the photo to Barry from his blocked phone, along with a message to come alone. No Firestorm, no Team Arrow, no Wells in the van. If Ra's' agents did see anything of the like, well, Iris had a little surprise injected into her neck. Even with Barry's speed, she'd be dead before he got her to a hospital.

A moment later, Ra's smiled as he heard the sonic boom, melting further into the shadows to avoid detection. The Flash phased through the doors to the warehouse, running directly towards Iris… and became caught in the energy web that was borne when he passed through two pylons. The Flash jerked in place, unable to stop his powers from flowing and unable to use them to escape the trap that Ra's had concocted. Lightning ripped across The Flash's uniformed body until he finally gave up, trapped by the energy web. "I'm here!" The Flash shouted out. "You have me! Now just let her go!" The Flash reached up and pulled his cowl off his face. "Face me, you coward!"

Ra's began clapping, drawing the attention of both Iris and Barry to the shadows where he stood. Ra's stepped out into the light, smirking as Iris' eyes widened in shock while Barry stared at him, stunned. "As predictable and self-sacrificing as always, Barry Allen," Ra's said quietly, finished with his clapping as he came to stand beside Iris' chair. "But that is what separates us, I think; it's why even now, you don't understand what's going on, and neither do those I once called friends." Ra's removed the gag from Iris' mouth as Barry finally found his own voice.

"Oliver? Where've you been? We've been searching for you. And-and what's all this? We could've just met up. Or is this another of your crazy training exercises?" Barry demanded to know.

"Training exercises?" Iris asked in confusion. "Barry, what's going on? How does Oliver Queen know you're the Flash?"

"Because, Miss West," Ra's said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder, "he wouldn't _be_ The Flash if not for me. Isn't that right, Barry?" Barry refused to answer, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what was going on with his friend. "You see, Iris," Ra's continued, looking back at the younger woman, "when Barry first got his speed, he was told he was insane by your father, and then he was told by Eobard Thawne he wasn't a hero, just a young man struck by lightning. So, he came to Starling to ask advice of the one man he thought could understand what was going through his mind, however miniscule that understanding might be. He had powers; he wanted to help people; but _could_ he?"

"You told me I could be better than you," Barry said. "To be a symbol of hope, inspiring people in ways the Arrow never could. Isn't that why you became Green Arrow? To inspire people?" Iris' eyes widened as she remembered how the Arrow saved her and Eddie when Barry was affected by that metahuman over a year ago, and how Barry had watched the Green Arrow's speech with a small smile on his face, like he knew something no one else did. This was it; he had known Oliver Queen was the Hood/the Arrow and then the Green Arrow.

"And you are, Barry," Ra's said. "Which is why we now find ourselves here." Ra's smiled coldly, gesturing to the two pylons. "Do you like my little trap? They're grounding rods designed specifically to trap a speedster using their own power against them, something I was able to do thanks to the constant readings your team takes with your suit. Cisco really should have secured S.T.A.R. Labs' server better. But then, his own security wasn't that much better, was it?"

Barry, who had been testing the trap the man he had thought was his friend (he really needed to be a better judge of character) had sprung on him, stopped as a horrible thought hit him following Ra's' words. "No, no, no," he whispered in horror, looking up at Ra's' cold eyes. "You? It was you?"

"It was me, _what_?" Ra's asked, cocking his head to the side, a smug grin forming and making Barry ever more certain that what he had just thought was, in fact, the truth, no matter how horrible or inconceivable it could be.

"It was you who killed Cisco?" Barry asked weakly, and Iris' head snapped around to stare at Oliver in shock and horror. Surely, that couldn't be true…

Ra's demonstrated the weapon he had used to do the deed. "A simple weapon, but effective, especially against those who foolishly wear their hearts on their sleeves," Ra's said coolly, even as Barry sank to his knees in despair. "I also killed Joe, arranged for Wally's racer to explode, and just last night had a lovely wine with Dr. Snow, a wine laced with the same drug Malcolm Merlyn used to get my sister to kill Sara Lance." Ra's smirked as he saw Barry snap forward, lightning surging briefly. "I had my way with the fair Dr. Snow before I 'suggested' she hang herself with a noose made of her own nylons. My, but that woman was an animal in bed once I set the mood. What's that saying?" Ra's smirked as Barry grew more furious. "It's _always_ the quiet ones…"

"You son of a bitch!" Barry finally snapped as Iris sobbed behind Ra's. "Why do this!? Is this because I wouldn't help with Darhk? I told you _why_ I wasn't here to help! You said you understood!"

"No, Barry, this isn't about that," Ra's replied. "After you left me at my son's grave, I was finally able to accept the power I had refused for so long. I am _Ra's al Ghul_, and my first order of business is to destroy Star City and its _heroic_ defenders. I couldn't have you mucking things up, so while I arranged a distraction for Darhk and my former allies, I had my people scout out your team so I could strike with precision. This is the endgame, Flash, and you've lost." Ra's withdrew a pistol with a silencer on it, turned, and shot Iris right between the eyes. Her head snapped back in a spray of blood, bone, and brain matter as Barry's scream of anguish filled the air. An assassin melted out of the shadows, carrying a box, and set it on the ground in front of Barry before opening it to reveal his father's head. "I made sure Henry died quickly, cleanly," Ra's said as Barry's choked sobs filled the air.

"Kill me," Barry said quietly, looking up at Oliver through tortured eyes. "Just… kill me."

"I will," Ra's said as another assassin approached, holding the Demon's Blade. Ra's grasped the hilt and approached the broken figure of the man he had once considered akin to a little brother. "Goodbye, Barry." In a single, fluid motion, Ra's had raised the blade and brought it down, slicing clean through Barry's neck and beheading the speedster. "Torch the warehouse, use thermite on the bodies," Ra's ordered his agents. The assassins he had sent to S.T.A.R. Labs should have executed the Wells duo and set the accelerator to overload. Unlike the last time, it would not be sent upwards. Central City, the source of the metahuman infestation, would be wiped off the map in a matter of hours.

It was time to return to Star City, and finish what he had begun.

_***DC***_

Team Arrow, which now comprised of Felicity Smoak, John Diggle, Thea Queen, Laurel and Sara Lance, Ray Palmer, and (reluctantly) Malcolm Merlyn stared in horror at the broadcast on the large screen inside of the Bunker below Oliver's former campaign office. While Merlyn was a self-proclaimed sociopath, even he couldn't claim to be entirely unaffected by the utter destruction that had been wrought on Central City in the last hour. Felicity had tried every number she had for Barry and come up with nothing; satellite images showed no signs of life in most of Central City. "How is this possible?" Sara choked out as Laurel held onto her, the Lance sisters feeling something break inside of them. Their mother had lived in Central City, and their last words spoken to one another at Quentin's funeral had been spoken in anger. "I-I thought Barry and his team…"

"Why didn't they contact us?" Diggle vented, angry at Barry and himself for not keeping in better contact with the Central City team, especially after seeing how badly they had been taking things that happened before the King Shark incident. "Felicity, can you access any archived footage from S.T.A.R. Labs? I'm gonna call Lyla, see if they know anything."

"No need, Johnny," Lyla said as she stepped off the elevator, a grim expression on her face. "I've been coordinating with every agency under the sun, trying to figure out what the hell happened over there. The only thing we know for sure is whatever happened… it originated inside of S.T.A.R. Labs. The facility itself is gone, as is half the city. According to some of our science guys… this was what people _thought_ would happen if the particle accelerator malfunctioned."

"But that didn't happen because…" Ray Palmer began, then trailed off, eyes widening. He and Professor Stein had talked about what happened that night, Ray being one of the few people on the _Waverider_ who could hope to keep up with the professor outside of Gideon, the ship's artificial intelligence.

"Ray?" Lyla prompted.

"Sorry," Ray said, shaking his head. "According to Marty, Professor Stein, the accelerator didn't do _that_," he gestured to the screen, "because Ronnie Raymond diverted the energy upward. Those modifications would still be present, so if this _did_ originate from the accelerator…" Ray trailed off again, swallowing. "Then someone reversed those modifications in order to create the original effect."

"What kind of monster could destroy so many innocent lives?" Laurel choked out, unable to comprehend it.

"The kind that has lost all its humanity," a pained, gasping voice said from the 'garage' entrance. The team and Lyla all whirled around, Lyla and Diggle instantly raising their weapons while Laurel and Sara moved to greet the newcomer with warm, if sad, smiles, only for those smiles to be wiped away in horror at the sight before them.

Nyssa Raatko, as she preferred to be known after she had destroyed the Ring of the Demon, was leaning against one of the support posts for support, blood oozing from multiple open wounds, one of which was a horrendous stab wound through her side. "It was… all I could do… to get free… to warn you…" Nyssa grunted as she moved to step forward, only to collapse in a bloody heap. Sara was the first to dart forward, followed by Laurel. Sara pulled Nyssa into her embrace so that Nyssa lay on Sara's knees and stomach, looking up at her. Laurel knelt beside them as Diggle and Lyla came forward with the emergency kit. Felicity and Ray stood in the background, fidgeting nervously because they couldn't be of much help but wanting to know what Nyssa did about Central City.

"Nyssa," Sara whispered, brushing her ex-lover's dark hair away from her eyes. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Beloved," Nyssa whispered, reaching up and brushing Sara's cheek with one hand, leaving a bloody smear on Sara's freckled features. "I am glad that I have the chance to see you, one last time, before I face the gates of oblivion."

"Don't talk like that," Sara half-sobbed, clutching Nyssa's hand to her face with one hand, ignoring the blood that smeared between Nyssa's fingers and her face. "You're gonna be fine, Nyssa. Right, John? She's gonna be…" Sara looked up at Dig and Lyla and trailed off at seeing their grim looks. "Please, there's got to be something…"

"I'm afraid there is not," Nyssa said before coughing weakly, blood accompanying the spittle that ejected from her mouth. Sara held her close, eyes squeezing tight as she tried to control her emotions.

"What happened, Nyssa?" Laurel asked, repeating her sister's questions from earlier. "Who did this to you?"

Nyssa opened her mouth to reply, but the _twang_ of a bowstring was all the warning they had before an arrow blossomed into being in Nyssa's left eye. Lyla and Diggle both saw the explosive attachment at the same time and leaped into action, dragging Laurel and Sara out of the blast radius. Moments later, the explosive detonated, leaving Nyssa's torn-up remains sans skull. Lyla held Sara as she sobbed while exchanging grim looks with Diggle and Laurel, who stood and began a sweep of the Bunker. Ray and Felicity were looking wildly around for the source of the arrow, everyone taking note of an interesting fact: Thea and Malcolm were nowhere to be found.

_***DC***_

"I need a straight answer," Thea bit out once she and Malcolm had returned to the apartment that Malcolm occupied. "No half-truths or any of the other bullshit you usually do. Was that one of your people who did that? I know you have League members still working for you."

"No, Thea," Malcolm said, shaking his head emphatically. "Believe me, if I wanted Nyssa al Ghul dead, I wouldn't do it so blatantly, especially when the only thing standing between me and Damien Darhk is the very little good will I have with your brother's team. Speaking of, I can't help but notice that your brother has been conspicuously absent since his son's death. How do we know he isn't the one behind this?"

"Because," Thea sneered, "if my brother had snapped, he'd be going after two people. You and Darhk. And he'd have done it long before now."

Malcolm sighed and conceded, "Yes, he would have. But that leaves only two possibilities."

"Which are?" Thea prompted.

"Loyalists to the previous Ra's al Ghul," Malcolm said, "or those loyal to one of his other two children."

"There are _more_ of them?" Thea asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Malcolm replied shortly. "Why do you think I was holding everyone back at Nanda Parbat? I was expecting Talia or Dusan to strike at me there. They never did."

"So, what now?" Thea asked.

"Now," Damien Darhk said as he stepped into view, "we figure out who is behind all of this, Miss Queen. The murders of Quentin Lance and my family; the crime spree in Central City leading up to the destruction of the city itself; now the murder of Nyssa al Ghul as she is about to reveal the mastermind behind it all. This is not coincidence."

"He's right, Thea," Malcolm said as his daughter looked at him. "Which is why we need your help."

"My help?" Thea asked in disbelief. "My help doing _what?_"

"Getting your brother's team to agree to a cease-fire, at least until we find out who's been playing us all for fools," Darhk said. "Afterwards, we can go right back to killing each other. I'm especially looking forward to ripping the life force from the Lance sisters." Darhk smirked. "It will be so _sweet_ to ensure they never join their father or their _beloved_ friend Nyssa in the afterlife."

"You think I would help _you_?" Thea asked in disgust, looking between her father and the man who had been terrorizing Star City for several months. "I will _never_ help you, Darhk. Not after how you killed my nephew in front of his father. I hope whoever is doing this finds you and takes their time." Thea stormed out of the apartment, ignoring Malcolm calling her name.

"You do know that if she walks out the front door without my giving the right signal, my men will put a bullet between her eyes?" Darhk asked. "You don't have the greatest history with your kids in this city, do you?" Malcolm rushed out of the apartment. "Will they both die, or only one?" Darhk mused to the empty room.

_***DC***_

Felicity Smoak's head drooped in despair as she saw the bulletin flash across her computer screen. Laurel and Sara were elsewhere, taking care of Nyssa's last rites. John was out with Lyla, trying to track down leads, and Ray was on a patrol of the city. "Ray," she croaked out over the comms.

"Felicity?" Ray said in surprise.

"Ray, Malcolm and-and Thea," she managed.

"No, don't say…" Ray began.

"They are," Felicity whispered. "What is going on?"

"I'm on my way back," Ray said, and cut the comms, wanting to focus on returning. Felicity repeated her last question to herself, not expecting an answer, but receive an answer she did.

"**A reckoning, Miss Smoak,**" a modulated voice said, and Felicity whirled in her chair to face the intruder. His suit was almost like Oliver's had been when she first met him, but black, and there was facemask of some sort where Oliver had only had grease paint and, later, the mask Barry had worn.

"W-Who are you?" Felicity stuttered, grabbing the nearest object (one of Oliver's arrows) and holding it aloft like a sword. "S-Stay back!"

The figure flowed forward, disarming Felicity in moments and delivering a blow to her trachea, paralyzing her voice box. Felicity's hands shot to her throat before the figure ducked and weaved around her with the arrow that she had been holding initially, cutting her at very specific points in her arms and legs. She slumped, boneless, back on her chair, a whimper escaping her as tears welled in her eyes. She tried to talk but could barely make her _breath_ audible as the figure arranged her in her chair, tilting her head back so she was staring up at the ceiling. She heard more than saw the figure arm one of the explosive attachments for Oliver and Thea's arrows. "**To answer your question, Miss Smoak,**" the figure said, dropping the device into Felicity's mouth and tilting her mouth shut with his finger, "**I'm the Demon's Head, and you're about to lose yours.**"

Despite her situation, Felicity couldn't help but find that pun horrible. It reminded her of Oliver's horrible puns over the sum-

Felicity's eyes widened and she managed a strangled sound that shared a verbal rhythm with the name 'Oliver' before the device in her mouth detonated, splattering her brains, blood, and bone across the monitors. When Ray Palmer arrived at the bunker minutes later, it was to this grisly sight. "Felicity," he said weakly, taking off his helmet by reflex.

A moment later, Ra's al Ghul dropped from the rafters behind him and drove a dagger that had been sheathed at his belt through the back of Palmer's skull. The Atom collapsed at the feet of the headless body of Felicity Smoak, Ra's turning to face the elevator as the doors slid open. Diggle and Lyla entered, coming to a stop upon spotting the hooded figure of Ra's. Both raised their guns, but Ra's threw a smoke pellet on the ground, shielding himself from view, and when they got through it, the black-clad warrior had vanished.

"I'm guessing that that was the person who killed Nyssa," Lyla said grimly.

_***DC***_

Once Felicity and Ray's remains had been removed and the platform cleaned, Diggle, Lyla, Sara, and Laurel gathered around the monitor, hoping there would be clues in either Ray's or Felicity's final moments. There was nothing in Ray's, but in Felicity's there were two things of note. The most obvious one was when the dark-clad figure referred to himself as the Demon's Head. Each of them had felt dread settle in their stomachs since that title held special meaning for all of them thanks to the events of the previous year. Then they heard Felicity's strangled, incomprehensible cry. Laurel and Sara, both having attuned their ears to different pitches thanks to their sonic devices, frowned. "Can we separate what Felicity was saying from everything else?" Laurel asked.

Diggle nodded and used the program Felicity had designed for such an occasion to separate out the sounds. They all listened to what Felicity said without any of the ambient noises from the Bunker, and that dread that had formed into their stomachs grew.

"It almost sounds like…" Sara said but trailed off, her stomach churning, unwilling to accept the possibility of what she was hearing.

"Like she's saying 'Oliver'," Laurel finished tonelessly.

"That can't be," Diggle said in disbelief.

"No wonder your team's been running around without an idea of how to fight this, if you're unwilling to consider every angle," Damien Darhk said as he strolled out of the elevator like he owned the place. Diggle and Lyla both reached for their weapons while Sara and Laurel sank into combative crouches, only for all four to straighten, weapons dropping as their hands went to their throats while Darhk raised his own towards them. "Now, I'm going to be talk, without interruption, and then I'll let you speak," he said in a lecturing tone, as though he were speaking to a group of children rather than grown fighters. "As I tried to explain to Thea Queen before her untimely demise, everything that has been happening since the death of William Clayton has been calculated. The murders of Quentin Lance and my family had us at each other's throats while the perpetrator traveled to Central City and ensured that The Flash and his team would never be able to come to your rescue. If Nyssa al Ghul had not escaped, her death would have been pinned on either Malcolm Merlyn or I to further distract us." Darhk dropped his hands, allowing them to breathe once more.

"So, what the hell are you suggesting?" Lyla rasped, rubbing her throat.

"A truce," Darhk replied coolly. "If Oliver Queen has indeed become the Demon's Head, then we cannot attack him haphazardly. I know where he will be staying if he's still in the city. You three," Darhk looked at Diggle, Sara, and Laurel, "along with myself can infiltrate the building while A.R.G.U.S. forces and my own distract the assassins that will no doubt be guarding their master."

"And you expect us to trust you?" Laurel demanded to know.

"No," Darhk replied. "But I am willing to set aside our enmity until Oliver Queen is a corpse. After that, I have every intention of laying each of you out alongside him. And I am not in the mood for games. Are you in or out?"

Diggle glared at him but raised his chin. "For the sake of the city, I'm in," Diggle said.

"For our father, and Nyssa," Sara said, Laurel nodding beside her.

"A temporary alliance," Lyla finally said with a nod.

"Then let's get ready," Darhk said. "Because I am not speaking melodramatically when I say this will not only be the fight of our lives, but a battle for the fate of Star City." Oh, he planned on seeing the city destroyed, alright; but he wanted it done on _his _schedule and according to his design, not someone else's.

_***DC***_

The penthouse floor of the League stronghold was silent but for the breathing of Ra's al Ghul as he knelt in meditation, focusing on the power of the Demon's Head that granted him the ability to see his enemies movements and all the potential outcomes of the battle to come. It had varied each time he did, after each successive strike against his former allies.

In the original vision, he was defeated by an alliance of not only Darhk and his former team, but the so-called Legends, Team Flash, and an all-powerful alien with no known weakness that Barry would have met as a result of his attempts to reach Earth-2 to once more confront the speedster known as Zoom. Once Ra's had set Darhk and his former allies against one another with the deaths of Quentin Lance and Darhk's wife and daughter, he had shifted his focus to ensuring that Barry and his team wouldn't interfere, much less bring in that all-powerful alien, even if she did dress like a non-threatening cheerleader. Wiping out the central hive of the metahuman infestation had simply been the bonus objective for Ra's.

Once he had returned to Star City, the vision had shifted again. Diggle was not a threat; for a special forces soldier, he let his emotions rule him far too often and targeting Felicity Smoak would always ensure Diggle was never a threat in the confrontation to come. No, the worrisome parts of the vision had been the alliance of Darhk, Malcolm, Thea, Sara, Laurel, and Nyssa. While Laurel refused to strike a killing blow, she wasn't above _crippling_ a foe, as she had proven more than once, and any of the others would've been all too willing to deliver the fatal blow. Even with his power, he wouldn't have been able to hold them all off indefinitely.

No, he had needed to thin the herd. Killing Nyssa within the Bunker had been risky, but because he used an arrow like those Merlyn had used, Thea had chosen to confront her father in privacy. His sister had always been predictable in that she made everything about her. Just in case Darhk didn't take the bait, Ra's had sent a sniper of his own to take care of his sister and her father. He had wanted to kill Merlyn himself, but making the man watch as Thea's head was pulped like a melon before his own followed suit had been satisfying enough. With Thea and Merlyn presumably in the wind, that had kept the Diggles and the Lances busy, leaving the two softest targets on the team without protection. Felicity's strangled, near-incomprehensible cry of his former name still brought a smile to his lips and a song to his heart.

Now the only ones left to confront him were Darhk, Diggle, and the Lance sisters. John, of course, would be dealt with easily. Darhk's magic would be negated by the Ring Ra's had had forged, and as for the Lance sisters, well, the great thing about having been so close to both of them was he knew what made them tick, and what would put them off-balance. He smiled as he heard the _snap_ of neckbones and the pair of soft _thuds_ as the men 'guarding' the elevator entrance to the penthouse were killed by Darhk's magic. "So nice of you to join me," Ra's said quietly, standing and turning to face his expected guests.

"It's over, Oliver," Diggle said authoritatively, one hand on his gun. "Come peacefully."

"And if I refuse your generous offer, John?" Ra's asked.

"Then we do this the hard way," Black Canary said grimly, staring at her former lover in regret. How had it come to this? How had things gone so wrong?

"We'd rather not," White Canary said.

"But I would be more than happy if you refuse," Darhk said, earning glares from the three heroes, which left him unfazed. He was the bad guy, after all; why would he want to bring in this little upstart alive? For a 'trial'? That was such a quaint notion. He could almost imagine the elder Miss Lance, perfectly poised in a skirt and delivering her opening arguments while Ra's watched on impassively, no doubt plotting the woman's demise. He had barely avoided such an existence himself since there had been no way for them to track him down. He often wondered what it might have been like if he had lost his magic and William Clayton had lived. Would he have killed Laurel Lance, or would he have rotted away in prison while she soared high on such a conviction?

Ra's didn't respond to Darhk's comment; indeed, he didn't speak another word, instead flowing forward and striking John through the heart with the same device he had used to kill Cisco Ramon, ravaging Diggle's heart in the same fashion, before he tossed the man's body aside with a sneered, "Pathetic."

Darhk raised a hand, making a clawing motion, but Ra's' ring glowed briefly to absorb the attack. Ra's ducked to avoid a strike at his head by Sara's baton and used the same motion to deliver a high-aiming sideways kick to the surprised Darhk's chin, sending the suited man who could be a poster boy for the Nazi ideal stumbling back. Ra's finally drew his blade from the scabbard on his back and ducked backward, using his sword to deflect Black Canary's strike with her nightstick before using his sword to catch the nightstick at an angle and force it from her hands. "Nightsticks are fine against a street thug, but useless against a master of combat, Black Canary," Ra's lectured, ducking back again to avoid a swing from Sara, who followed up her attack with a whirlwind kick. Ra's met the kick with a swipe of his blade, cutting along Sara's calf and eliciting a cry of pain from the younger blonde.

Darhk was back in the fight a moment later, this time using his magic to turn the penthouse's furniture and appliances into projectiles. Ra's ducked and weaved, avoiding both the projectiles and the Lance women before standing still for just the right amount of time to get both Sara and Laurel to move into an attack against him. At the last second, he ducked and rolled forward. A moment later, the coffee table slammed into the two women, sending them flying towards the window looking out at the city. Darhk stopped throwing objects around, his eyes narrowed as he studied Ra's. "You shouldn't be able to fight like this," Darhk said. "That's not the Ring of the Demon."

"The Ring was a mere token," Ra's replied, "to ensure fools like yourself and Malcolm never grasped the truth. 'Is Ra's al Ghul immortal? Are his methods supernatural'? The answer to both, Damien, is yes. The power of the Demon's Head is the spirit and experience of every Ra's since the founding of the League, passed from Chosen Heir to Chosen Heir. It cannot be usurped by anyone but those who are Chosen."

Damien struck at Ra's, who weaved out of the way and proceeded to slash his blade across Darhk's back, drawing a crimson line that began to soak the expensive fabric. "'The Demon's Head fights with the strength of a thousand'," Ra's quoted again. "This is no mere saying, Damien. I fight with the strength of every Demon's Head who has come before."

Ra's delivered a right hook to Damien's jaw as the man turned to face him, before delivering a crushing kick to the back of the man's knee as he was forced into a turn by the force of Ra's' right hook. Ra's stabbed downward, his sword cutting through Damien's spine and out of his stomach, exiting where the diaphragm would be located.

"And the best part of all of this is, Damien," Ra's whispered as he twisted the blade, blood spurting out of Damien's mouth as he coughed, "I would not have this power, this strength, within me if you hadn't killed my son. You awoke the Demon inside of me, and now, you will burn." Ra's pulled his blade free and decapitated Damien in a single, fluid motion before turning his attention to the Lance sisters. Laurel was holding her sister, sobbing quietly, Sara's blue eyes glassy as a jagged piece of metal stuck out of her rib cage. Laurel looked up at the man she had once loved with all her heart.

"Why?" she whispered in despair.

"Because this city is beyond redemption, and so am I," Ra's replied and flicked his left wrist, a throwing knife sailing through the air and landing, on target, in Laurel's throat. Laurel fell to the side, blood oozing out around the edge of the blade, as Ra's approached. "Goodbye, Laurel."

_***DC***_

A.R.G.U.S. had fallen to the Suicide Squad and others who had been kept prisoner within its walls. King Shark had eaten the Director. Star City had been rocked by a series of explosions and was now a mass grave of over 400,000 people. Central City was the site of the most devastating technological disaster of the modern age, with over 1,000,000 casualties and rising. Chaos was running rampant in the streets of Gotham City as an ageing billionaire looked out at the city he had sworn to protect, feeling despair clutch at his throat. Metropolis' criminal and corrupt were capitalizing on the destruction of Central City and Star City.

But for Ra's al Ghul, this was merely the beginning. He stood at parade rest on the balcony of his quarters in Nanda Parbat, his hair and beard groomed but ever-growing, as he observed the returning legions of the League falling into formation. "Welcome home," he called down to the legions as they finished assembling. "Central City and its metahuman scourge are wiped from the map. Star City and its defenders burn. The world now knows that attempts to subvert the natural order or to play God will be met with force. It is now our duty to return to where we are strongest, and to stand ever-watchful, prepared to strike should the day ever come again when the world must re-learn why they feared the shadows."


End file.
